<p>Sorry to derail this thread, but I feel the need to respond to csh123.</p>
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Yes, but no upper-division math courses. In other words: a math major doesn’t add much value here.</p>
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A math major doesn’t add much here either. And please don’t point to statistics: the OP has already had plenty of math courses to take the few statistics courses he’d need for applications in the social sciences. (Statistics theory - the stuff a mathematician would do in academia - is in an entirely different league and I would recommend a math major if that was the goal.)</p>
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Maybe in 1980 but not in 2010. There are enough people with computer science training out there that no one still hires a math major with no computer science background for a programming job. Putting a math major in an engineering position would be a liability issue to say the least.</p>
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True, if he was aiming for a PhD in economics, I would advocate upper-level math courses in addition to a solid economics background. If you stop at undergraduate or Master’s level economics, the OP has already plenty of math under his belt. Even if the OP had expressed an interest in grad school in economics, I would recommend he focus on economics first and add a few more math classes only if time allows.</p>
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Yes, if you graduate with a math major from Princeton or Stanford, you can become an analyst. If you have a PhD in math (or drop out of a PhD program at a selective graduate program), you can become an analyst. If you graduate with a math major from a no-name college? Good luck!</p>
<p>I am not saying that higher-level math is useless. I am saying that higher-level math is useless by itself. Math does add value to other qualifications. However, if you don’t have enough time to combine it with a useful major, ditch math and focus on the useful major instead. Math by itself won’t get you very far.</p>
<p>^^ what if I supplement my math major with a comp sci and Econ minor ? Wouldn’t that be useful? It’s too late for me to become a comp sci major if I want to graduate on time. I could major in Econ, but what can I do with an Econ major?</p>
Have you taken a single computer science class thus far? If not, I would urge you to take an introductory class over the summer before you change your major + minors. Most students have a very strong opinion on programming after their first exposure - they either love it or hate it - and you wanna know which camp you are in before making a commitment that cannot easily be undone.</p>
<p>Taking the introductory course(s) over the summer has the additional benefits that you can take more useful upper-level CS classes in your last two years. Also, if the number of classes you can fit into your schedule is limited, don’t get too caught up on the requirements for a minor because the “core” classes may not be the most “useful” ones. For example, Machine Learning will probably help you more than Theory of Computation, and Web Design or Databases will provide you with more employable skills than a Compilers class.</p>
<p>If you actually want a CS-related career, I would just finish the minor in psychology and not bother with economics. On the other hand, if you don’t want a programming job, there’s no point investing too much effort into CS classes.</p>
<p>Ok I have narrowed down my options. I’m going to take lessons about basic computer science from Khan Academy. Is this is a good idea to see whether or not I like computer science?</p>
<p>Anyways, here are my options. Which one is most employable? Most versatile?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Applied Math Major/ Computer Science and Economics double minor</p></li>
<li><p>Biology major/Math and Psychology double minor</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Have you looked at the Master’s program in Analytics at North Carolina State University?
You can complete it in about a year, and the average pay for a graduate is just a little under 100K per year.</p>
<p>Advances in computer processing power, and massive databases have spawned new sub-fields in math that combine statistics and computer programming. These go by the names ‘analytics’ or ‘data mining’ or ‘knowledge discovery’ or ‘machine learning.’</p>
<p>Retailers, scientists, governments, financial institutions, ‘everybody’ needs people who have the ability to uncover hidden patterns buried deep inside massive database, and they will pay those people very very well.</p>
<p>For example, the retailer Target recently discovered that women who purchased different combinations of seemingly unrelated products such as unscented lotion and vitamin supplements of calcium and magnesium had a nearly 90% probability of being pregnant, and in their first 20 weeks of pregnancy. Armed with that knowledge, they know when to send discount coupons for diapers, and capture millions more in profits.</p>
<p>The same techniques tell the government where an epidemic is about to break out, or the police that a new drug gang is operating in the city, or an oil company where to drill will for a higher probability of striking oil.</p>
<p>The Obama campaign has signed on analytics specialists who are advising exactly which subgroups in key counties to target for advertising that will yield the greatest likelihood of re-election.</p>
<p>I’m sure you get the point. It is a new career field because the combination of massive amounts of information, cheap, huge processing power, and statistical programming techniques have never been available in combination before.<br>
There are just a few master’s degree programs in the country now, and N.C. State’s is the oldest and in some ways has an unfair advantage. The biggest statistical software company, SAS in the world is right next door and works hand in hand with them.</p>
<p>I agree with Barfly. I am a geology major at Texas A&M and I really love it no matter where it takes me. However, if you are just in it for a job (aka oil money as of now) then I don’ t suggest it. I have too many friends doing exactly that and I just don’t see them enjoying the rest of their life with it. If you really do end up liking it then go for it, it’s a great major and important I think. A passion should be required though. </p>
<p>And as far as minoring in psych, I don’t take psych majors seriously here. With your background in math have you thought about an engineering degree? If you are interested in the petroleum field maybe petroleum engineering? Or mechanical? There you could minor it geology. </p>
<p>And I changed my major to geology my junior year, I’ll be graduating this December after 5.5 years, so be prepared a victory lap or two.</p>
<p>Normally, I would consider myself the last person to provide advice. I am retired with a D going to college in August, and a S that graduated last year with a BS engineering physics. After my son graduated, and due to overseas committments, I was looking for a job for him in Engineering mainly concentrating in hydrology/water transmission. When we noticed that on job sites with companies in excess of 10,000 employees, there were few jobs, salaries where ludicrous and requirements were specific internships to those positions. I looked at grad school for MS and problem is the job field is overcrowded, additional expense of over $36K per year, for what a job that will start you off at $51K.
My suggestion is look at the job sites first, get involved in the forums(not CC they are in La La land) look at Indeed, look at Glassdoor, there are many job specific sites that will provide some answers. This advice is for any major, and the bottom line, after 75 resumes by my son, the only companies that called back is the oil and gas industry. He is now a field engineer for a major company, happy, constantly learning and travelling. No one cared about the 3 years of Calculus, or Fluids, or Thermodynamics, they only care for the 5 years of college with a combined 10 months in the third world designing and implementing water systems.
I am perusing these sites because, now I have a D with a desire for Math and Physics, and hopefully can guide her to a real job, a real careeer. In the past few months, I have run into so many parents with delusions that their child has a BS Physics, Math, etc… and thinking the perfect job is out there with only their child with the correct skill set, Duh, I was one of those parents and sweated things out for 6 months, since I pay the bills. I knew at least we had an advantage of practical experience instead of book learning and regurgitating nonsense that justified the tuition’s.</p>
<p>The notion that you need a Ivy League education to get a job as a analyst in the financial industry is completely false. I go to Rutgers, a state school in NJ, majoring in Business/Finance and have gotten offers from JP Morgan, UBS, as well as some of the boutiques in NYC. Combining Applied Math with some sort of finance related minor, I could see RKS going into financial modeling or a finance relate field.</p>